ISSUE DATE:
SERVICE BULLETIN SUBJECT:
VINs or MODELS AFFECTED:
COMPLETE BY:
SERVICE BULLETIN #:

10/19/2020
800 Volt Fall Software Release
Service Specified Buses
Next Service Opportunity
SB-20-147

NOTICE! It is expected that this process may require up to 1 hour per bus. Please
schedule appropriately to minimize vehicle downtime.

VEHICLE SOFTWARE UPDATE
Description

The reason for this software update is to update various controllers to the latest state of the art
software. This will improve vehicle up-time, reduce driver interactions with the doors, and improve
diagnostic fault handling. All the included Proterra Catalyst 800V vehicles require a change to the
software/configuration for the following items:
•
•
•

Body Controller
Vehicle Controller
BMS Controller

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

1|Page

Summary of Software Changes

There are three controllers that will be updated. Below are the high-level updates. More detailed
information is available in the individual controller’s release notes.
•

Body Controller
• Updated the interface between the doors to remove redundant control algorithms that
were occurring between the body system and the door controller. Simplifies the
interface and response from the door system.
• Added a timer off debounce to the driver in seat sensor to reduce false notifications that
were occurring on rough roads with lighter drivers.
• Silence the drivers audible alert for the turn signals after 7 seconds to reduce audible
distractions to the driver.
• Disabled the exterior audible turn warning system when utilizing the right turn layover
switch to reduce noise during layover operations.
• Added an input for a momentary yield sign illuminate signal. When the left turn signal is
pressed, and this new input is pressed, the yield sign will remain active until the left turn
signal is released.
• Mapped a new output to drive a horn relay. This will be active anytime the driver
distress alarm is active.
• Fixed a constant value bug that caused the variable to overflow and drive the gauge
erratically.
• Adjusted the exterior audible alert on kneel recover motion to use a timer instead of the
vehicle motion inhibit signal from the ride height system. The vehicle motion inhibit was
calibrated out by the vendor, causing the exiting buzzer to chirp, but not play through
recovery.

•

Vehicle Controller
• A feature introduced in V4.0.0 to identify the type of unit (production or c-sample) had a
bug. The bug was that the units produced early in the year 2020 would be marked as Csample when it is actually a production unit. This bug leads to errors in ambient
temperature and coolant temperature sensor values.
• Added a wait to start boolean signal to tell the dash when there is a voltage disparity on
the high voltage bus. Removed DM01 fault for high voltage bus disparity.
• The DC-DC has a protection diode on the HV bus. The voltage doesn't need to be
monitored at startup and shutdown. Added a calibration parameter to indicate in the
software if the DC-DC has a protection diode.
• Overhead Charge Shunt Over-temperature fault (SPN 520885 FMI 0) was too low. This
has been increased to set at 100C and clear at 90C and will set a Protect Lamp when
active.
• Added 4 counters looking at the nominalized HVIL signal that increment when the
change from one sample to the next exceeds a threshold. Counters added to CAN.
Counters reset on key off.
Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

2|Page

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

•

Added Debugging signals to CCP to monitor loop timing.
Moved HVIL initialization delay to IPRC_DiagEnbl flag instead of a timer off ignition on.
Battery Heater is now turned on for atleast 10 seconds or until all HV component
voltages are below 50V upon disconnection of the high voltage batteries.
Removed separate timers for 5V power supply and diagnostics. Added into vehicle state
machine to maintain consistent flow.
Added feature to limit current request if the shunt reported temperature is above 95C.
The current request will be limited till the temperature reported is below 85C.
Improved response to ESM Shutdown Request signal. Vehicle will remain in Accessory
state if ESM Shutdown Request is True.
Updated SPN from 2234 to 2247.
SPN 2033 Body Controller FMI 0 Lamp set to Amber, was previously Off.
Auxiliary Tank No Fill Fault SPN was set to 1090 instead of 1089.
Added fault 8234 FMI 31 for delta too high.
Overhead Charge Shunt Voltage Present Threshold increased to 50V.

BMS Controller
• Resolved safety controller unrecoverable state that occurred on transition to sleep.
• The above scenario will no longer require a power cycle and will clear automatically.

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

3|Page

Tools/Programs Required
Tools Required:
• Laptop Computer
• Nexiq USB-Link 2

Programs Required:
• Proterra Diagnostics Tool

Software Files Required / Preparation

IMPORTANT! NEVER access the software from the USB memory device, ALWAYS copy the
software files to your computer hard drive and access the software from this location. Secure the
bus with the Vehicle Master Disconnect in the rear ON.

Component

Part Number

Version

Body Controller

055711

6.5.0

Vehicle Controller

054750

4.3.2

BMS Controller

055780, 055781

R20050CEB, R20050CE

It is recommended that you copy the entire “service bulletin files” folder to your local machine in order
to more effectively keep track of the software versions you are deploying:
\\bus.local\files\Engineering\Service Bulletins\Service Bulletin Files for SC-20-147\

Service Bulletin Execution
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Update the Body Controller using the process in Appendix A
Update the Vehicle Controller Software using the process in Appendix B
Update the BMS Controller Software using the process in Appendix C
Verify software versions using the Proterra Service Tool
Update each work order in Service Max when complete

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

4|Page

Appendix A

BODY SOFTWARE UPDATE PROCEDURE

Description

This document contains the necessary information to update the Body Controller on a Proterra
Vehicle. This controller provides the control algorithms for body functionality on 800V models. This
covers the control logic relating to driver inputs and display, stop requests, doors, interior and exterior
lighting, and ramp control.

Tools/Programs Required
Tools Required:
• Laptop Computer
• Nexiq USB-Link 2

Programs Required:
• Proterra Diagnostics Tool

Software Files Required / Preparation

To program the body controller, you will need a *.ZR32A_A data file. This file contains the necessary
firmware files and a baseline configuration to provide an operational bus body. The bus may need to
be configured to match customer specific functionality after programming.
If the vehicle has already been configured, the Proterra Diagnostics Tool will attempt to automatically
carry the configuration information forward into the new software version.
If needed, configuration information is contained in the released customer configuration
documentation. Ensure that you also have the configuration definition for the customer’s vehicle.
IMPORTANT! NEVER access the software from the USB memory device or network drive,
ALWAYS copy the software files to your computer hard drive and access the software from this
location.

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

5|Page

Preparing the Vehicle to be Programmed

When programming a vehicle, it is critical that the low voltage batteries remain connected throughout
the process. Ensure that the LV batteries are fully charged before starting the process. If they are
low you can use the vehicle to recharge them buy turning on high voltage, or you can place the bus
on a low voltage charger for the duration of the process.

Connecting to the Vehicle

This process will guide the user to connect to the vehicle with the Proterra Diagnostics Tool.
1. Power up and login to the Proterra-Supplied laptop or a comparable PC that has the Proterra
Diagnostics Tool software installed with a valid license.
2. Turn ON the 12/24V rear Vehicle Master Disconnect located at the curbside rear charge port
access panel.
Vehicle Master
Disconnect

3. Connect the Nexiq USB Link2 device to the laptop and to the OBDII Diagnostic Port located in
the Street-Side wheel well box.

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

6|Page

4. Turn the Driver’s Master Switch to the ACC position.

5. On the laptop, double-click on the Proterra Diagnostics Tool software icon to start the software.

6. When the program opens, read and click OK for the high voltage safety prompt.
7. On the Home tab, select the appropriate device from the drop down and click “Connect”.

8. Once the Proterra Diagnostics Tool has connected to the vehicle, you will have a VIN number
and connection status displayed on the home screen, and tabs available to navigate. If you
don’t, double check that the low voltage batteries are connected and that the Nexiq tool is
plugged in.

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

7|Page

Download and Store Existing Parameters

Sometimes you might want to download and store the customer specific parameters from the vehicle.
This can be useful when comparing two vehicles that are behaving differently, or if you are replacing
the ZR32A controller on a vehicle.
1. After the first vehicle has been completed and verified, disconnect the Proterra Diagnostics
Tool and then re-connect.
2. Navigate to the Configuration tab and click the “Get Parameters” button. This will download the
latest parameter set to the “C:\Logs” folder on your machine.
Get Parameters
Button

3. In windows file explorer, navigate to the C:\Logs folder. Copy the latest downloaded *.zip file to
a folder for the specific customer and vehicle.

Copy!

4. Do not rename the file as the tool will follow the naming convention when reloading the file.
Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

8|Page

Update Using the Proterra Diagnostic Tool

1. Navigate to the CONFIGURATION tab in the left menu.

Click
CONFIGURATION

2. If this is a replacement controller, select the “SET VIN” and program the controller to match the
vehicle VIN, then proceed to step 3. If not proceed to step 3.
3. Select the option for Body Firmware “START FLASH”.
Beside Body Firmware,
Click START FLASH

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

9|Page

4. In the pop-up window, select the software flash file to load to the controller.

5. The Programming window will come up and will take a few minutes to complete. The process
will flash 5 different files to the controller.
6. After the controller is updated the tool will automatically try to copy over the original
configuration into the new software. Since there is a possibility that configuration options
change it is important to check the configuration after restarting the vehicle.

7. Once the process has finished, cycle power to the bus by moving the driver master switch
back to the off position before continuing.

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

10 | P a g e

Appendix B

VEHICLE SOFTWARE UPDATE PROCEDURE

Description

This document contains the necessary information to update the Proterra Vehicle Integration
Controller. This controller provides the electrical integration of ancillary systems on 800V models. It
owns the vehicle operational state control, startup and shutdown, steering, pneumatics, thermal
management, and brake interlock controls.

Tools/Programs Required
Tools Required:
• Laptop Computer
• Nexiq USB-Link 2

Programs Required:
• Proterra Diagnostics Tool

Software Files Required / Preparation

It is recommended that you download any files local to your machine. To program the vehicle
controller, you will need a *.hex data file. This file will contain memory address and data information
that will be written to the controller in order to update the user code space. This will not update the
boot loader or other firmware files.
IMPORTANT! NEVER access the software from the USB memory device, ALWAYS copy the
software files to your computer hard drive and access the software from this location.

Headquarters: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
East Coast Manufacturing: 1 Whitlee Court, Greenville, SC 29607
West Coast Manufacturing: 383 Cheryl Lane, City of Industry, CA 91789

11 | P a g e

Preparing the Vehicle to be Programmed

When programming a vehicle, it is critical that the low voltage batteries remain connected throughout
the process. Ensure that the LV batteries are fully charged before starting the process. If they are
low, you can use the vehicle to recharge them buy turning on high voltage or you can place the bus
on a low voltage charger for the duration of the process.

Connecting to the Vehicle

1. Power up and login to the Proterra-Supplied laptop or a comparable PC that has the Proterra
Diagnostics Tool software installed with a valid license.
2. Turn ON the 12/24V rear Vehicle Master Disconnect located at the curbside rear charge port
access panel.
Vehicle Master
Disconnect